Team Rocket
From Dexnet
Team Rocket is an organization active throughout the Johto and Kanto regions. Their headquarters is located in an underground facility near Viridian City in Kanto, but they have smaller bases scattered throughout the two regions.
Members of Team Rocket are commonly referred to, both among themselves and among non-members, as "Rockets."
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Overview
Team Rocket deals in a variety of shady things, but their ultimate goal is to take over the world and they plan to use Pokémon to do this. Every member of Team Rocket knows that world domination is the goal of the group, but the ways they facilitate this goal will change depending on the member's rank.
Normal people don't know much about Team Rocket. They know that TR is a bunch of bad guys who steal Pokémon and dominate the black market. They can recognize a Rocket uniform on sight. They know that you are not safe around a Rocket and are usually unsettled by the sight of people in uniform. The name Giovanni gets thrown around as the name of the leader, but nobody quite knows who he is.
Rockets cannot be arrested just for wearing their Team Rocket uniform. Despite the organization running on crime, they also do quite a bit of legitimate business and the police force cannot arrest members solely on the basis of their being members. They will, however, keep a closer eye on those they know to be members and wait for them to slip up and do something worthy of arrest. This is one thing many civilians don't know and they will try to demand that members be arrested on sight, only to be told, "Sorry, she's not doing anything wrong," by a nearby Jenny. There is, of course, social stigma attached to being a Rocket due to their bad reputation among the civilian population. But no legal repercussions come just from being a Rocket.
On the other hand, covert agents can be arrested just for being Rockets because they are obviously spies. They'll want to keep this secret very well-guarded.
Leader
Giovanni is the leader of Team Rocket and he runs his business from the shadows. Administrators take their orders from him and pass them on to supervisors. Little is known about Giovanni, but he is a very respected figure and he is very feared. Loyal Team Rocket members believe in him and truly think he would do a better job if he were in charge; they support his goal of world domination. Those who are loyal are so out of love, fear, or both. When Giovanni does make an appearance, he is a quiet, imposing figure and has the air of a man who knows what he's doing, where he's going, and how he's getting there.
Giovanni is a legitimate gym leader for Viridian Gym in Kanto. He opens this gym once a year, unless the League forces him to open it sooner due to demand. If he's forced to open it sooner, he will leave it in the hands of an administrator instead of taking care of challengers on his own. Only Team Rocket members serve as regular members of this gym, testing challengers to ensure that they can face Giovanni. The wear of uniforms during gym service is prohibited, to prevent the authorities from being alerted to the fact that the gym is Rocket run.
Member Levels/Ranks
Grunt
Most Team Rocket members are grunt level. They get to wear those snazzy black uniforms with the R on the chest. A grunt's job is to do as she's told by her superiors and to steal whatever rare or valuable Pokémon she happens to come across. They're also called in as support where needed, and used as guards or backup. Rocket grunts handle the menial tasks of Team Rocket. They always have an assigned partner and never work alone.
Supervisor
The level up from grunt. Team Rocket supervisors are in charge of grunts, and they are usually left in charge of specific operations. Supervisors have their own offices and handle a lot of paperwork. They will usually have a partner for fieldwork, but it's usually a lower ranked member who needs to be shown the ropes. For this reason, supervisors who are given partners consider this to be a compliment from their higher-ups: it means their bosses have enough faith in their abilities that to be willing to entrust other members to them. Supervisors usually wear snazzy white uniforms with an R on the chest, but a supervisor in a lower level uniform (while not common) is accepted. They have more freedom with uniform deviations than grunts as well; supervisors are allowed a certain level of customization as long as they keep the R on the chest.
Administrators
Administrators work directly under Giovanni. They tell the supervisors what to do and they plan operations and pass down orders. These are the people who keep Team Rocket running smoothly. They are not partnered and work alone, and they rarely do fieldwork. The administrator uniform more closely resembles a black suit with a small R on the left breast pocket. They are not required to wear this uniform and may instead wear anything professional looking as long as they are clearly marked with an R.
Covert Agents
Team Rocket also has covert agents: spies placed any and everywhere you can think, including the police force, PokéCenter staff, and the Pokémon League. As far as rank, covert agents tend to be grunt level and have a supervisor at TR HQ, but they do not, ever, wear the Team Rocket uniform outside of TR buildings. Covert agents cannot risk being caught as Rockets.
Other
Regardless of rank, it is the job of all Team Rocket members to find rare or unique Pokémon and turn them over to the Team. Grunts will turn captured Pokémon over to their supervisors, supervisors will take them to the labs. Members can request to keep certain Pokémon for use on their teams, but the rarer the Pokémon, the harder it is to get this request approved. Starters and very common types will get the okay, but after that it's a command decision.
Team Rocket's collection of Pokémon is vast and members can request to take Pokémon from the collection to serve on their teams. Sometimes they're handed out like this to get them to evolve: grunts often do work training Magikarp into Gyrados for sale, for example. Rattata and Ekans are the most common Pokémon seen on a Rocket's team, and these will be permanently issued from the TR collection with no hassle.
The end goal of TR may be world domination, but they know that this is a far off vision. For now, the goal is to gain power and prestige for their eventual strike. Most of Team Rocket's resources are therefore tied up in rather mafia-esque dealings. Stealing rare Pokémon, running the Rocket Game Corner, having agents in every area of the government, and running a very profitable black market Pokémon trade. For now, the goal is to build funds for Giovanni's eventual takeover.
Of course, Giovanni has some tricks up his sleeve. TR has a very notable research and development department. They've figured out how to change a Pokémon's registration information, alter the ID number and OT information for them and how to switch what PokéBalls they're registered to. They do research on Pokémon and on how to make them more powerful, or how to evolve them faster. There are also rumours within TR that R&D is working on cloning Pokémon from fossils, and that they know the code for making Porygon.
